Week 10 schedule
Nov. 3 games
Texas Southern at Alabama State; 2 p.m. (CONF.)
Mississippi Valley State at Grambling State; 2 p.m. (CONF.)
Prairie View A&M at Jackson State; 2 p.m. (CONF.)
Alabama A&M at Arkansas-Pine Bluff; 2:30 p.m. (CONF.)
Alcorn State at New Mexico State; 3 p.m.
Bye: Southern
2018 Toyota SWAC Football Tie-Breaker Scenarios
With the picture becoming clearer each week, here are the SWAC Football tie-breaker scenarios headed into Week 10. The winner of the East Division and the West Division will meet in the SWAC Football Championship on Dec. 1 at 3:30 p.m with the team holding the better conference record earning the right to host the game on their campus.
East Division
Alcorn State (5-1): Controls own destiny. Would clinch the SWAC East Division with one more loss by BOTH Jackson State AND Alabama State for the remainder of the season. Has one remaining conference game left as the Braves host Jackson State on Nov 17 at 2 p.m. A win on Nov. 17 for Alcorn State would clinch it if either Jackson State OR Alabama State continues to win in the lead up to that game.
Alabama A&M (3-2): The Bulldogs are not eligible for the postseason due to NCAA violations.
Jackson State (2-2): Controls own destiny by winning the rest of its conference games. However, one more conference loss would eliminate the Tigers from contention. Jackson State hosts Prairie View A&M this Saturday at 2 p.m. On Nov. 10, Jackson State plays at Alabama State at 2 p.m. and then will play at Alcorn State on Nov. 17 at 2 p.m. The Tigers would need to win all three games clinch the East Division.
Alabama State (1-2): Controls own destiny by winning the rest of its conference games. One more conference loss would eliminate the Hornets from contention. Alabama State has four remaining conference games left starting this Saturday in hosting Texas Southern at 2 p.m. Alabama State also plays Jackson State on Nov. 10 at 2 p.m., plays at Prairie View A&M on Nov. 17 at 1 p.m. and hosts Mississippi Valley State on Nov. 22 at 2 p.m. The Hornets would need to win all four games to clinch the East Division. They own the head-to-head tie-breaker with Alcorn State via a 28-25 win earlier this season.
Mississippi Valley State (1-3): The Delta Devils have been eliminated from postseason contention.
West Division
Southern (4-1): The Jaguars control their own destiny with conference games against UAPB on Nov. 10 at 4 p.m. and on Nov. 24 against Grambling State in New Orleans at 4 p.m. in the Bayou Classic. Southern won the head-to-head meeting with Prairie View A&M 38-0 and would hold a potential two-team tie-breaker in that scenario.
Grambling State (3-2): The Tigers have Mississippi Valley State on Saturday at 2 p.m. and Southern on Nov. 24 in the Bayou Classic at 4 p.m. remaining for their conference schedule slate. Grambling State lost the head-to-head tie-breaker with Prairie View A&M via a 22-16 loss earlier this season. The Tigers can still win the SWAC West Division title, but would need to win their remaining conference games and would need Prairie View to lose one more conference game.
Prairie View A&M (2-2): The Panthers would need a lot of help to keep their West Division title hopes alive. PVAM would either need to win the remaining three conference games on their schedule (Nov. 3 @Jackson State at 2 p.m, Nov. 17 vs. Alabama State at 1 p.m. and Nov. 24 vs. Texas Southern at 1 p.m. PLUS would need two Southern conference losses OR a Southern loss to Grambling by at least 71 points.
In a potential three-team tie-breaker in the West with all teams finishing at 5-2, the tie-breaker would fall all the way down to the seventh tie-breaker to potentially decide the West Division winner. After a potential split of 1-1-1 versus one another, their records inside the division would all be a potential 3-1 with wins against Texas Southern and Arkansas-Pine Bluff as well as victory and loss against one another.
The next tie-breaker would take into consideration their non-divisional records, which would all be 2-1 in this scenario. Southern beat AAMU and JKST and lost to ALCN. GRAM beat ALST, lost to ALCN and would have to beat MVSU in this scenario. PVAM lost to ALCN and would have to beat both JKST and ALST in this scenario.
The next tie-breaker would be the common non-divisional record, in which all three West Division would have only faced ALCN and each lost.
The next tie-breaker of record v.s common non-divisional teams with the best record and then proceeding downward would only factor in ALCN as a common opponent, in which all are 0-1.
The seventh tie-breaker of best point differential between the tied teams in head-to-head matchups would heavily favor Southern at this junction. Southern currently holds a plus 38 point differential via a 38-0 win against Prairie View A&M earlier this season. Their game against Grambling State on Nov. 24 would factor into the point differential. Grambling State currently holds a minus six-point differential due to a 22-16 loss to Prairie View earlier this season and has that game vs. Southern left o factor in. Prairie View A&M has a minus 32 point differential already settled due to their 38-0 loss (-38) to Southern and 22-16 (+6) victory against Grambling State.
Texas Southern (1-3) and Arkansas-Pine Bluff (0-4) have both been eliminated from contention.
How can bama state & alcorn both control their own destiny? As of now, Alcorn has one conf. loss & Ala St has two. Alcorn & JSU are the only two east teams that control their own destiny. And they meet head up nov 17.
Bama state needs alcorn to lose one more game. They need help.
Alabama State lost to Alabama A&M, but keep in mind that Alabama A&M is not eligible to compete for the SCG. Alabama State defeated Alcorn State earlier this year.